Savills adds Building and Consultancy services to its portfolio
Firm is committed to adding service lines that will benefit its clients
Savills is expanding its services portfolio and now offers building and project consultancy services across the Middle East. The firm says it has hired an experienced specialist team, which will tap into a growing regional market, which sees technology and future-oriented businesses leading the demand for commercial office space.
The new Building and Project Consultancy team will be led by Simon Denham. He was previously head of Corporate Real Estate within the Project and Development Services department at JLL Mena. He is said to have led a team responsible for delivering commercial fit-outs for local and international clients.
The newly formed team will support developers and other stakeholders when planning, building, operating and managing properties, a statement from the firm said. The team will also benefit from the expertise and specialist skillset of Max Hughes, who joins as director – Project and Cost Management and Heidi Salama, an experienced project manager based in Egypt, Savills said.
“There is a significant opportunity to complement the excellent tenant representation work that Savills has been doing for many years, with a bespoke service line that addresses the needs of a changing market. Office fit-out is a rapidly changing sector and has moved from the traditional corporate world of banked desks and bland interiors, to practical spaces that encourage flexibility and creativity within working environments. No two companies are the same and the Middle East is a young, vibrant region where there is a real demand for offices to match the characteristics of the next generation of employees who are shaping today’s business environment,” said Denham.
According to Savills, the region has seen significant inbound expansion and investment from businesses in recent month from firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, Facebook, Spotify, Snapchat and Oracle.
The introduction of the Building and Project Consultancy service line is said to complement the work the firm already undertakes on behalf of global corporate occupiers, government entities, regional businesses and family offices. Over 50% of Savills’ Middle East business relates to property management and leasing of office and retail assets for clients such as Bahrain World Trade Centre, Arkan Cairo and Riyadh Front. The opportunity to manage the design, fit-out, project and cost management of those spaces for incoming tenants offers a clear synergy, the statement said.
Savills’ Middle East CEO Steve Morgan remarked, “Bringing best-in-class experts like Denham, Hughes and Salama, who have a client-centric ethos, under the Savills umbrella complements the work we have been doing for many years throughout the region within both our Commercial Agency teams and our Global Occupier Team. We have been considering this Building and Project Consultancy service line for a while and with so many large-scale commercial assets now under our management across the region, the time is right for expansion into this sector.”
He also said that this was another chapter in Savills’ continued growth across the Mena region.
He concluded, “Our business has expanded by 30% in the last twelve months which reflects our confidence and commitment to invest. We continue to look for areas in which the Global Savills brand and expertise can be introduced within our region to the benefit of our clients.”
